WASHINGTON – Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits saw an unexpected 14,000 rise to 257,000, 12,000 higher than the 245,000 analysts expected, data released by the Labor Department Thursday showed.
The four-week seasonally adjusted moving average for initial claims fell by 500 to 242,250 in the April 22 survey week, a fourth straight decline.
If the number of claims does not change next week and there are no revisions to data from the past four weeks, the four-week average will rise sharply as the 235,000 level in the April 1 week leaves the average.
Continuing claims rose 10,000 to 1.988 million in the April 15 employment survey week, 64,000 below the level in March 18 employment survey week.
